T.E. Lawrence | Autograph letter signed, to Miss Fareedah [el Akle], Carchemish, 10 December 1913

T.E. Lawrence

Autograph letter signed ("T.E.L."), to Miss Fareedah [el Akle]

regretting that she does not like Damascus ("...Damascus always seemed to me to have been such a splendid town. Those great mosques and khans and baths are wonderful, and the ruins of the bazaars: also the crowds of people in the town, of all the races of the earth, are rather wonderful too..."), asking her if she could find a traditional iron dog collar, and mentioning his friend Dahoum who "returns your salaams, with interest, which is forbidden by his law", 4 pages, 8vo, Carchemish, 10 December 1913, minor wear at folds

A RARE PRE-WAR LETTER BY LAWRENCE IN ARABIA. The young Lawrence worked on the British Museum's excavations of the Hittite site of Carchemish in Syria from 1911 to 1914. It was in these years that he gained the knowledge of Arabic language and culture that were to prove so crucial during the war years. This lively letter is written to Farida el Akle (1882-1976), a Christian Lebanese woman who had been Lawrence's Arabic teacher in Jubail, where he had attended a course before beginning his archaeological field work.

This is one of only a few letters in which Lawrence refers his intimate friend "Dahoum" (a.k.a. Selim Ahmed, c.1897-1916). There has been much speculation about whether or not the men were lovers, but in either case it was a relationship of profound importance to Lawrence. He expressed the depth of his love for Dahoum in his dedication of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom to "S.A." (Dahoum's initials):

"I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars to earn you Freedom, that seven-pillared worthy house, that your eyes might be shining for me when we came..."